Historiae Flavianos

The Historiae Flavianos (A History of the Flavians) was a 489 AD publication by John Asterius Syrianus. It was about the history of the Neo-Flavian Dynasty, the rulers of the Byzantine Empire. The book covers the years from 363 to 489.

Synopsis
In 363 AD, the elderly Roman nobleman Valens became the new Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire. Aging, he had many children and grandchildren to take care of, in addition to caring for his empire. His sons Julianus Flavius, Gnaeus Flavius, and Luca Flavius had many children each, and the Neo-Flavian Dynasty's family members were the governors of every major Byzantine city from Rome to Raqqa, from Ankara to Alexandria. However, the family crumbled as corruption and religion took over the empire, and Valens' grandson Crispus Flavius rebelled in Philadelphaea. Soon, a series of rebellions broke out across the empire. Valens died in 366 AD and Theodosius I succeeded him as the new emperor; he was the son of Julianus, his eldest child. Theodosius took over the reins and crushed all opposition to his rule. Inspired by his ancestor Constantine the Great, Theodosius began to demolish pagan shrines across the empire and build churches, inspiring the spread of Christianity across the Eastern Roman Empire.

However, new threats loomed: the Sassanid Empire in the Middle East was still at war with the Romans. Theodosius sent his cousin Equitius Flavius to invade Mesopotamia with a Byzantine army, and his ranks grew due to bribery. Kuru and Buran, two Persian nobles, joined his army, and Kuru was set to become the new king of the Sassanids when the Romans took over Persia. Nidintu-Bel and Narses also joined them, but the two were killed in the process, as was Equitius. Nevertheless, the Byzantines conquered the Sassanids after fierce struggling, and Kuru became the new King.

With Persia in Byzantine hands, the Byzantines were unstoppable in converting them to Christianity. They also conquered Arabia and northern Africa, and consolidated their realms. Emperor Theodosius then learned that rebellions broke out in the Western Roman Empire, so he set out to plan out his courses of action. He could ally with the rebels to overthrow the empire and place a new dynasty in charge, or he could back his allied government and crush the rebels. As North Africa was in rebel hands, he decided that his best course of action would be to conquer as much land as possible from the rebels.

In 401 AD, Theodosius died, ending a long period of conversion to Christianity. He was succeeded by Luca the Builder, his uncle, and Luca continued his quest to fight the rebels. He personally led an invasion of Italy, and conquered Ravenna, Rome, and Tarentum in 401-402 AD. Luca killed the usurper Arbogastes Maesa and his son Equitius Maesa, and united the Italian peninsula. However, pirates killed him when he set out to capture Sicily in 406 AD, his ships sunk and he and his whole army drowned. Jovinus the Philosopher and his successor Marcellus the Liar attempted to defeat the rebels from 406 to 430 AD, and Orestes Silvanus and Glycerius Silvanus were killed in Syracuse in 430.

With Italy under Byzantine control, the Eastern Roman Empire made Rome its new capital, holding daily games to prevent a revolt. They conducted wars against the rebels in North Africa and eventually stomped them out, but fought against the hostile Berbers, Alemanni, Kingdom of Narbonensis (Sarmatians), Kingdom of Baetica (Goths), and Kingdom of Tarraconensis (Vandals) on their borders. They also had to crush many rebellions against the new dynasties, as the last Flavius (Luca) died in 406 AD. Never-ending warfare saw the expansion of Byzantine territory to northern Spain, into France, to Lombardy and central Germany, to the Balkans and to Ukraine, and to North Africa. In 476 AD, the Western Roman Empire fell, and the Eastern Roman Empire became the Byzantine Empire.

The book ends with the present day, with Syrianus telling about the bleak future of the empire ever since the fall of the Flavians. In the present day, there are daily games held in cities, leaving colisseums flooded with blood and corpses. Money income was small, and the Romans had no clear future as they were invaded from all sides.